Sick Honey Gourami

[windrunner9189]

What is the water volume of the tank? 20 gallons
How long has the tank been running? 6 months
Does it have a filter? yes
Does it have a heater? yes
What is the water temperature? 79
What is the entire stocking of this tank? (Please list all fish and inverts.) 3x honey gourami, 1x guppy, 6x ember tetras, cherry shrimp, bladder snails, assassin snails
Maintenance
How often do you change the water? weekly
How much of the water do you change? 25%
What do you use to treat your water? prime
Do you vacuum the substrate or just the water? substrate

*Parameters - Very Important
Did you cycle your tank before adding fish? yes
What do you use to test the water? apI master test kit
What are your parameters? We need to know the exact numbers, not just “fine” or “safe”.

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
pH: 8.0

Feeding
How often do you feed your fish? at least every other day
How much do you feed your fish? a pinch
What brand of food do you feed your fish? tetra and aqueon flakes/granules
Do you feed frozen or freeze-dried foods?
freeze dried bloodworms and frozen brine shrimp
Illness & Symptoms
How long have you had this fish? 4 months
How long ago did you first notice these symptoms? a couple weeks ago
In a few words, can you explain the symptoms? pale, lethargic, just grown a tumor
Have you started any treatment for the illness? salt dip
Was your fish physically ill or injured upon purchase? no
How has its behavior and appearance changed, if at all? listless and pale, an obvious tumor on the side

Explain your emergency situation in detail. (Please give a clear explanation of what is going on, include details from the beginning of the illness leading up to now) a few weeks ago i've noticed her becoming pale, I didn't think much of it until she became lethargic and layed around all day. that's when I salt dipped her. now she has a tumor near her tail, and it's super worrying. please help, I really care about this fish and want her to live!

 

[NC122606]

View attachment 561796
What is the water volume of the tank? 20 gallons
How long has the tank been running? 6 months
Does it have a filter? yes
Does it have a heater? yes
What is the water temperature? 79
What is the entire stocking of this tank? (Please list all fish and inverts.) 3x honey gourami, 1x guppy, 6x ember tetras, cherry shrimp, bladder snails, assassin snails
Maintenance
How often do you change the water? weekly
How much of the water do you change? 25%
What do you use to treat your water? prime
Do you vacuum the substrate or just the water? substrate

*Parameters - Very Important
Did you cycle your tank before adding fish? yes
What do you use to test the water? apI master test kit
What are your parameters? We need to know the exact numbers, not just “fine” or “safe”.

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
pH: 8.0

Feeding
How often do you feed your fish? at least every other day
How much do you feed your fish? a pinch
What brand of food do you feed your fish? tetra and aqueon flakes/granules
Do you feed frozen or freeze-dried foods?
freeze dried bloodworms and frozen brine shrimp
Illness & Symptoms
How long have you had this fish? 4 months
How long ago did you first notice these symptoms? a couple weeks ago
In a few words, can you explain the symptoms? pale, lethargic, just grown a tumor
Have you started any treatment for the illness? salt dip
Was your fish physically ill or injured upon purchase? no
How has its behavior and appearance changed, if at all? listless and pale, an obvious tumor on the side

Explain your emergency situation in detail. (Please give a clear explanation of what is going on, include details from the beginning of the illness leading up to now) a few weeks ago i've noticed her becoming pale, I didn't think much of it until she became lethargic and layed around all day. that's when I salt dipped her. now she has a tumor near her tail, and it's super worrying. please help, I really care about this fish and want her to live!

First, can you check if your parameters are correct?
I'm thinking its
1. Poor water quality
2. Parasites (Costia, Chilodonella, Trichodina, Epistylus)
Also if it is a tumor then you maybe could get it removed but I am not thinking so on such a tiny fish.

 

[windrunner9189]

First, can you check if your parameters are correct?
I'm thinking its
1. Poor water quality
2. Parasites (Costia, Chilodonella, Trichodina, Epistylus)
Also if it is a tumor then you maybe could get it removed but I am not thinking so on such a tiny fish.

here's my params, I test them weekly and ever since this tank finished cycling i've never seen nitrites or ammonia rise whatsoever. I sometimes double test with another apI master test kit and some off brand test strips.

if it's parasites, I have three treatments. I can do h2o2, aquarium salt, and general cure. can I treat it with any of those? I also have melafix (but not recommended for gouramis) and e.m. erythromycin on hand. my guppy is becoming listless like the gourami, and so I think I should treat the whole tank.

 

[NC122606]

here's my params, I test them weekly and ever since this tank finished cycling i've never seen nitrites or ammonia rise whatsoever. I sometimes double test with another apI master test kit and some off brand test strips.

if it's parasites, I have three treatments. I can do h2o2, aquarium salt, and general cure. can I treat it with any of those? I also have melafix (but not recommended for gouramis) and e.m. erythromycin on hand. my guppy is becoming listless like the gourami, and so I think I should treat the whole tank.

I would honestly treat the whole tank because it seems like it is spreading...
Try Tetra Lifeguard I heard it is good with things like that.

 

[windrunner9189]

the listless guppy is rolling and turning over now, it can't hardly swim. I had another guppy that died a week or so ago due to this..

i'm afraid to medicate my whole tank because everyone else looks healthy right now.quarantine should be ready for new fish today, and I will be able to put them in there to treat with general cure and the aquarium salt.

I really hate that this has to happen..

 

[JRG]

here's my params, I test them weekly and ever since this tank finished cycling i've never seen nitrites or ammonia rise whatsoever. I sometimes double test with another apI master test kit and some off brand test strips.

if it's parasites, I have three treatments. I can do h2o2, aquarium salt, and general cure. can I treat it with any of those? I also have melafix (but not recommended for gouramis) and e.m. erythromycin on hand. my guppy is becoming listless like the gourami, and so I think I should treat the whole tank.

How did you get the nitrates down to 0? Usually, even the tap water has some nitrates in it. The only time I ever had a reading of 0 nitrates is when my nitrate #2 bottle wasn't shaken well enough. It separates and needs to be shaken vigorously for an accurate reading. I gave it a 5 min shake, then it gave a reading of over 100. Nitrates had been building up slowly.

Anyways, for internal parasites I use frozen bloodworms with Metroplex, Focus, and Garlic Guard. Let it melt/mix for 30 min then feed. If you have a qt tank ( I use a plastic tub) then you could also add in some epsom salt. I don't remember the amount of epsom salt to gallons of water though.

Please keep us posted.

 

[windrunner9189]

How did you get the nitrates down to 0? Usually, even the tap water has some nitrates in it. The only time I ever had a reading of 0 nitrates is when my nitrate #2 bottle wasn't shaken well enough. It separates and needs to be shaken vigorously for an accurate reading. I gave it a 5 min shake, then it gave a reading of over 100. Nitrates had been building up slowly.

Anyways, for internal parasites I use frozen bloodworms with Metroplex, Focus, and Garlic Guard. Let it melt/mix for 30 min then feed. If you have a qt tank ( I use a plastic tub) then you could also add in some epsom salt. I don't remember the amount of epsom salt to gallons of water though.

Please keep us posted.

alrighty, I will test again to see. i've been shaking the bottle but I didn't know you had to shake it that much. turns out I actually have a few nitrates.

the honey is in quarantine with general cure right now.

 

[JRG]

alrighty, I will test again to see. i've been shaking the bottle but I didn't know you had to shake it that much. turns out I actually have a few nitrates.
View attachment 562099
the honey is in quarantine with general cure right now.

Wow that's still pretty low. Wish my water was that low on nitrates. I even have a moderately planted tank with a low stocking level and they still don't get that low unless I do like am 80% wc.

Hope the honey pulls through, they're beautiful. I have a gold gourami that adds some nice color to the tank, but he's a bit of a jerk.

 

[windrunner9189]

Wow that's still pretty low. Wish my water was that low on nitrates. I even have a moderately planted tank with a low stocking level and they still don't get that low unless I do like am 80% wc.

Hope the honey pulls through, they're beautiful. I have a gold gourami that adds some nice color to the tank, but he's a bit of a jerk.

right before I tested I did a water change, so I probably had more to start with. I'll be rechecking parameters and doing another water change in the morning.

a guppy in the same tank as the honey died, or at least I think it did, I can't find it anywhere, and the last time I saw it, it wasn't doing that great. I don't know what exactly to do, the other fish look healthy. I was thinking to just treat the tank with hydrogen peroxide instead of meds, and put all the sick fish in quarantine. but, if I really need to, I might be able to use general cure on the tank.

 

[windrunner9189]

sad news.. the honey gourami passed away last night. I really loved that fish.

I just did the first dose of hydrogen peroxide on my tank, I decided I'll keep it at low concentrations and repeat it if needed. hopefully what caused all this will be killed off. keeping an eye on parameters too.

 

[windrunner9189]

another guppy went down... now an ember tetra is going down next. i'm seriously so frustrated.. I don't know what's wrong.
here's what they look like and do a few days before they die:
- pale
- hollow belly
- listless
- tumor?
every single time. and I can't figure out for the life of me what's wrong with them. i've tried e.m. erthyromycin, general cure, aquarium salt, hydrogen peroxide.. i'm just getting super upset over this, and it's really making me just want to quit the hobby.